Precast concrete articles such as tiles, blocks or stones are well known and widely used. It is common to use these for indoor and outdoor landscaping, paved tracks and roads, wall retaining systems and the like. These articles are provided in a variety of configurations and sized and are usually made in precast moulds. It is standard to press slightly humid cementitious mixture in a precast mould with sufficient pressure in order to solidify it into a green shape. The green shape is then cured in a drying oven.
Standard press and mould arrangements provide a table on which a delimiting gate mould is placed. The gate mould is filled with the humidified precast mix. A vertical press is then hydraulically lowered on the precast mix. The resulting green shapes are moulded between the gate mould and the vertical press. The moulding surface of the vertical press is used to imprint design elements on the top surface of the green shapes.
Prior art presses are generally provided with a metallic pressing surface. One problem with such presses is that if too much pressure is exerted on the precast mix, the resulting article will be destroyed by excessive compression, or at the very least become fragile and lose its design definition. This is especially true when making thin articles such as tiles.
There is an ongoing need for providing thin concrete articles such as tiles having a better design and definition and a better physical and mechanical properties.